I went with Moya, because that's what she is now known as. Maire is a beautiful Irish name. but someone who doesn't speak irish may have a hard time pronuncing her name. Both are beautiful names don't get me wrong

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I choose Moya, I like it. I have no huge explanation but it has a nice sound to it. *Hi! the name is Moya* Nice to meet you!* I first thought that Maire and Moya were too different persons, luckely that came out right . I actually don't see how Máire could be Moya in English, I pronounce 'Maairee' actually. But Moya's fine too

Guess what, the phonetic spelling of the Irish name "Máire" is actually "Moya"....In other words "Máire" is to be pronounced as "Moya" but since there was a lot of confusion about how to pronounce it Máire decided to chance her name into "Moya"

eeehm, did that make sense

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I think I prefer Máire as well, although I can understand the confusion is causes to the uninitiated .... also the fact that the said person never wants to be called "mare" ever again.

There is another way to get the "á" character, and that's to use the Alt Gr key in the same way as you use the Shift key for the "a"; using both Shift and Alt Gr together will produce the capital version: Á.

It works for all 5 vowels.

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They sound exactly the same And the spelling of 'Máire' is the actual Irish spelling. They are exactly the same apart from the spelling - I find the spelling of 'Máire' more traditional though, and think it stood out on the album covers more than 'Moya', although I love that speeling too! But from me, it's a big 'MÁIRE'.

They sound exactly the same And the spelling of 'Máire' is the actual Irish spelling. They are exactly the same apart from the spelling - I find the spelling of 'Máire' more traditional though, and think it stood out on the album covers more than 'Moya', although I love that speeling too! But from me, it's a big 'MÁIRE'.

But for me they dont sound the same because I dont say Maire as I say Moya.Its different.For me Maire is similar as Maria,and Moya as Carlos "Moya" the tenist.

I for voted "Máire", because it's the real name and the spelling of "Máire" looks nicer than the spelling of "Moya".
Notwithstanding I think that Moya's decision to use the phonetic spelling was right. Believe it or not, some salespersons even have difficulties spelling "Brennan". Putting "Máire" into their computer would be almost impossible for them.
I can imagine that it wasn't easy for her to decide to use the phonetic spelling.

I know that I have answered this question on another thread before but no sure where it is. I prefer the spelling of Moya over Maire since to me it looks nicer. It is also easier to explain to records shops and others how to spell then the older way of saying it.
I could have sworn that I had read some where that Maire is not the correct Irish spelling either and that it is much longer but she had shortened it to make it easier and then she shortened it again to Moya since the first time didn't work like she had wanted it to. Although I can't find where I read that.

But, I think that most people will use the Donegal spelling as that's how Máire pronounces it. I use the Donegal prononciation as Máire says it that way, and because every Irish teacher I had was from Donegal, apart from when I was six, my teacher was from Derry.